Lou Reed quotes - page 4

Lou Reed was an influential American musician, songwriter, and founding member of the band The Velvet Underground. His groundbreaking work blended rock, art, and poetry, profoundly shaping alternative and punk music. He left a lasting legacy through his distinctive voice and uncompromising artistic vision. Here are 97 of his quotes:

Sound is more than just noise. Ordered sound is music. My life is music. (Lou Reed)
The music is all. People should die for it. People are dying for everything else, so why not the music? View quote
Lou Reed
I wouldn't want to hear Beethoven without beautiful bass, the cellos, the tuba. It's very important. Hip-hop has thunderous bass. And so does Beethoven. If you don't have the bass, it's like being amputated. It's like you have no legs. View quote
Lou Reed
I can create a vibe without saying anything, just by being in the room. View quote
Lou Reed
Raymond Chandler managed to write about L.A. his whole career. Should I keep going writing about New York? Is that what I should be doing? Songwriting doesn't work that way. View quote
Lou Reed
I don't like the word rock opera, but I'm trying to write on that level that's reserved for plays still, or novels. View quote
Lou Reed
I don't know what goes on in the crowd. I've had them show up and throw beer cans at me. I caused riots in most of the major cities. View quote
Lou Reed
I can't do anything I want to. I mean, I can't have my own TV show. I can't have my own movie. But within my little world, nobody tells me what to put on the albums. View quote
Lou Reed
I've become completely well adjusted to being a cult figure. View quote
Lou Reed
I don't think anybody is anybody else's moral compass. Maybe listening to my music is not the best idea if you live a very constricted life. Or maybe it is. View quote
Lou Reed
I'm in this business for too long to be halfhearted about anything. (Lou Reed)
I'll tell ya, I'm a genuinely nice guy. I really am. A real nice guy. But I think I'm temperamental. View quote
Lou Reed
I don't mind a repetitive chorus; I mind repetitive verse. I mean, it's the same amount of space. Why would you have only three diamonds if you can have six? View quote
Lou Reed
You're a musician: You play. That's what you do. View quote
Lou Reed
I wanted to be an actor. That was my real goal. But I wasn't any good at it, so I wrote my own material and acted through that. That's my idea of fun. I get to be all these things in the songs. View quote
Lou Reed
I have no control over the audience. I have no idea what they think. My heart's pure. I can't do anything. I really can't do anything. I don't know what goes on in the crowd. View quote
Lou Reed
Meditation doesn't have to be complicated. What I do is about as simple as you can get. You could just count the beads, one, two, three, with your eyes closed or open, whatever makes you happy. View quote
Lou Reed
People think that I work out but it's all t'ai chi. View quote
Lou Reed
When I was in college, I had a jazz radio show. I called it 'Excursion on a Wobbly Rail,' after a Cecil Taylor song. I used to run around the Village following Ornette Coleman wherever he played. View quote
Lou Reed
I am very emotionally affected by sound. Sounds are the inexplicable... There is a sound you hear in your head, it's your nerves, or your blood running. View quote
Lou Reed
This room cost 2,000 dollars a month You can believe it man it's true Somewhere a landlord's laughing till he wets his pants No one here dreams of being a doctor or a lawyer or anything They dream of dealing on the dirty boulevard Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I'll piss on 'em That's what the Statue of Bigotry says Your poor huddled masses, let's club 'em to death And get it over with and just dump 'em on the boulevard. (Lou Reed)
The Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane (youtube) View quote
Lou Reed

Lou Reed

Lou Reed - Image
Photo: Man Alive!, CC BY 2.0
Occupation: American Musician
Born: March 2, 1942
Died: October 27, 2013
Quotes count: 97
Wikipedia: Lou Reed

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